Me and the King (Macar)

I have a tendency to draft for fun. Often that means I simply fail, but this time I was actually passed a [scryfall]King Macar, the Gold-Cursed[/scryfall]. As this was the third pick and blue was desperately underdrafted, I was able to draft a pretty sick deck.

I went 3-0 and I only lost one game in the finals. People went really far to try to get rid of Macar. One player Bestowed it with [scryfall]Observant Alseid[/scryfall] and then [scryfall]Vanquish the Foul[/scryfall], but I was able to use [scryfall]Retraction Helix[/scryfall] to save my boy. Other times, I used Helix and [scryfall]Thassa’s Ire[/scryfall] just to tap and untap the King. Often Macar would get rid of two, sometimes three pesky creatures during one turn.

I was also able to have a number of ways to find my King. Although I never managed to do it, but number one plan was to use [scryfall]Disciple of Deceit[/scryfall] as almost a double for the king, and just for that purpose I made sure I had some four costing cards in the deck, although in the end there weren’t many. Besides the Disciple (who I’d like to imagine is behind the king’s curse) I had plenty of scrying to help dig.

I also had plenty of early creature to block an early rush. They were enough to hinder most aggression, even if at times the creatures were just there to draw out combat tricks. 1/3 is a pretty good body and both blue and black have plenty of those for very little mana.

I did try to get cards with Inspired and Heroic right after getting the King, since they have synergies with pretty much the same cards. Also, I learned early that [scryfall]War-Wing Siren[/scryfall] is very strong card. I like it more than the perennial MVP [scryfall]Wingsteed Rider[/scryfall], only because it costs only one colored mana.

Here’s the list. I’ve divided it into groups pretty differently from my usual creatures / spells /lands division, because my approach was so different this time. I didn’t draft bodies or tricks, but just things to help out my King.

[cardlist title=Its Good to Be the King (despite a curse)]
[main attraction]
King Macar, the Gold-Cursed
[/main attraction]
[king’s facilitators]
2 Retraction Helix
Crypsis
Aqueous Form
Boon of Erebos
Thassa’s Ire
Triton Tactics
[/king’s facilitators]
[to dig out the king]
Omenspeaker
Sigiled Starfish
Voyage’s End
2 Sudden Storm
Disciple of Deceit
[/to dig out the king]
[other cards with heroic or inspired]
Ashiok’s Adept
Aerie Worshippers
War-Wing Siren
[/other cards with heroic or inspired]
[random stuff to make opponent’s life miserable]
Shipwreck Singer
Disciple of Phenax
Sealock Monster
Hubris
Sip of Hemlock
Vortex Elemental
[/random stuff to make opponent’s life miserable]
[lands]
Mana Confluence
8 Island
8 Swamp
[/lands]
[sideboard]
Perplexing Chimera
Font of Return
Griptide
2 Aerial Formation
Vaporkin
Triton Cavalry
Aspect of Gorgon
Thassa’s Bounty
Pin to the Earth
Stymied Hopes
Deepwater Hypnotist
Grisly Transformation
Flitterstep Eidolon
Dissolve
2 Forsaken Drifters
Pensive Minotaur
[/sideboard]
[/cardlist]

Many of the cards pulled double duty, but this list is pretty much based on priority reasons for putting them into the deck. Still, even if [scryfall]Aqueous Form[/scryfall] was put into the deck to help the King tap, I did use it very beneficially to dig out lands in one game by playing it on my [scryfall]Vortex Elemental[/scryfall]. That was very crucial.

I did win games without drawing the King. It was completely possible to make my opponents life difficult in other ways.

Cards I sided in included [scryfall]Font of Return[/scryfall] against a deck that milled me in the first game and [scryfall]Perplexing Chimera[/scryfall] against a deck with plenty of big creatures. As you can see, I had plenty more options in the sideboard. I could have easily put in the [scryfall]Griptide[/scryfall] before [scryfall]Hubris[/scryfall] or [scryfall]Grisly Transformation[/scryfall] before [scryfall]Boon of Erebos[/scryfall], but this is the way it went. My blue was very, very deep.

Besided the King, the real MVP was [scryfall]Thassa’s Ire[/scryfall]. If I managed to make the game long (and I did, every time), I could just keep tapping and untapping the King at will.

2 thoughts on “Me and the King (Macar)

  1. One more note: My oppoents were really unwilling to scoop the game despite me having the King, Thassa’s Ire and plenty of lands in play (I kept forgetting the gold tokens). I guess its hard to let go, because I wasn’t doing much damage and they had plenty of time… seemingly.

  2. Pingback: Even More Top 5 Lists on MtG | Guild Blog

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